View from the Top

Fog Man Django

Mt. Mandango at dawn.

In the afternoon, it rained.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm

welcome to that great crooner
~ just back from the Copa ~
Scrub Blackbird!

Welcome to the Jungle

ATENCIÓN: New Amazon expedition in "Field Trips" November 18, 2019

Ladies and Gents ~ The Rain Season Has Commenced

After a downpour, the clarity is exceptional.

  

Now, kindly stop burning.

Excellent location for a future Hobbit-hole.

Swiftly the green emerges.

Smile

A Clock With No Hands

Can you exist without waiting?

Without expecting

To be filled with the next thing?

Mooji

I have all the right ingredients. It's been raining lightly for 24 hours. It's the weekend and there's no place like home. We have sustenance, ambience and unidentified flying objects. I haven't seen either of these tipos before and they show up the same day. Migratory? On the equator? 

I swear on Ma Libassi's grave that these are "as shot". 

Best viewed on a big screen. 

What is going on out here?

Shy Finch. A female. 

Walking Around Cuenca

The diversity of Ecuador is mirrored in the wild color combinations

of marble tile. 

(?)

Municipal Museum of Modern Art

In 1876, Bishop Miguel León founded the "House of Temperance" to treat chronic drunks in the city. It is only after two years that a small house is acquired next to the Plaza de San Sebastián to the presbyter Martín Aguirre, so that this praiseworthy social service can be provided.

The corner part of the current complex is incorporated in a lease in 1919, but the date of its construction has not been established. 

Subsequently, on January 15, 1924, the House of Temperance was destined for the Men's Prison of Cuenca. 

After some years, in 1937, it was decided to dedicate the property to the Asylum for the Elderly and the Indigent. And finally, the building, with the expansion of some premises, is converted into the School of Work, Children's Home and Health Center. 

In 1978, the Ecuadorian State, through the Ministry of Health, transferred the building to the local Municipality in the Mayoralty of Dr. Pedro Córdova.

The following year, the Central Bank and the Municipality sign an agreement that allows its restoration and adaptation to new use, a process carried out by the architect Patricio Muñoz Vega, who respects to the maximum the characteristics and architectural elements of one of the most beautiful places in the city. Transformed into a museum in 1981, it was inaugurated in February 1992. 

If you're well-off, you live in a wealthy area and you get an elaborate church.

When you're in a poorer neighborhood, you get a more humble church building, like San Sebastian's here.
It should be the other way around. The poor are humbled enough.

Hanging Out In My Hotel

Atención: Wear camera strap at all times

I'm still in "Taking care of business" mode. I have a strong conviction that will end this week as I retrieve my goodies from Customs in Guayaquil. I know what my agent's fee is, but no estimate on what my entry fees will be. Only challenge there is, they all want payment in cash and the port is in a neighborhood where it would be easy to snuff someone and lose the body. Look, it's suppose to be an exciting adventure, right?

My second attempt at getting my Green Card is now a successful memory. They cancelled all appointments last week claiming "system maintenance" after I took the five hour trip to Cuenca and booked a hotel room for four days. They sent my lawyer and email an hour before we were supposed to leave for Azogues. The next day, I failed to find a last minute tour offering so I entertained myself by spending a lot of money and walking about nine miles. The journey also featured just missing busses and no one with change for a twenty. Finally, I stand at my beloved puerto de pueblo and my keys are not in the backpack but somewhere in the suitcase. Deep breaths. Slowly, now.

If you're going to be stuck somewhere, Cuenca is as good a place as any.

The one item that wasn't playing that game was the finding of a mid-range telephoto for the Nikon at half price. Then I gave $35 for a pair of deck shoes but, there it is. This week I bought a different lens –also 300mm– but $100 less. The missing feature is vibration reduction, which is cool but extraneous for a camera on a tripod.

With a 105mm lens. Magnification 2X

With a 300mm lens.

Having successfully booked a walking tour, after the victorious booking of a Green Card pickup on Friday, I disrupted about 8 churches and cathedrals, a sombrero factory and museum, and the lookout point on the north ridge. This group of photos is only what I could get hanging out in my hotel room.

Cuenca will be partly cloudy with a 50% chance of rain.

Wandering aimlessly and taking in what's in front of you.

Now that's sauntering.

Fauna y Flora

There are some wicked things in this wilderness 

and I intend to find them.